Thank you for visiting our archive. Each performance submitted to our website will be explained in detail in its own blog post. You can choose to look through these posts in a variety of ways.
Bedouin Shakespeare Company’s production of The Tempest aims to make Shakespeare’s play accessible and entertaining to an audience largely composed of students. The production, characterized by spare staging, emphasized the comic and magical dimensions of The Tempest, the third Shakespeare production the company has brought to the UAE since 2012.
Read MoreRichard III
Presented in English
Vertigo Theatre, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
September 23-October 8, 2016
Directed by Ron Jenkins
Haysam Kadri as Richard III
Selected Reviews:
http://www.cbc.ca/player/play/2695558837
An epic double family drama about mothers and daughters, fathers and sons. In Willmott’s production Lear, a Queen with failing mental faculties, finds it impossible to retire gracefully and is cast out by her eldest daughters. Meanwhile the Duke of Gloucester's ruthless son plots to steal his brother's inheritance.
Read MoreThe UK Premiere of pianist and composer André Tchaikowsky's opera based on Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice. The opera is a potent attack on prejudice, a deeply personal response to Tchaikowsky's experiences as a child in the Warsaw Ghetto, that was unperformed for three decades before David Pountney commissioned performances at the Bregenz Festival in Austria. The Welsh National Opera production was part of the Welsh National Opera's autumn Shakespeare400 Season. WNO Artistic Director Pountney said “It's a marvellous opportunity for us to bring together enormously varied works which Shakespeare’s works have inspired.”
Read MoreA version of Macbeth set in a fictitious pan-Polynesian Hawaiki and drawing on Polynesian cultural traditions in music, dance and staging. Part of an ongoing engagement with a Polynesian response to Shakespeare, following a 2014 production of The Merchant of Venice by the same company.
Read MoreBilled as Britain's first all-black Hamlet, Black Theatre Live's production was set in Denmark, a Black Empire of modern England, where an intelligent young student discovers the world he once knew has crumbled. Dramaturg Mark Norfolk used Peter Brook's stripped back Hamlet as his textual blueprint to get to the heart of the play, expanding it with new text to better explore both Hamlet and the play's female characters.
Read MoreBrave Spirits Theatre brings Alexandria, Egypt, to Alexandria, VA, with Antony and Cleopatra. Performed by an ensemble cast of only ten, this epic story of two lovers torn between their passions for each other and their duties to their countries is produced in celebration of the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death.
Read MoreShakespeare's play reimagined through the eyes of Lady Macbeth's chambermaid, annoyed at only having one short scene in Shakespeare's original.
Read MoreVerdi described Macbeth as 'one of mankind's greatest creations'. His opera based on the play was part of the Welsh National Opera's autumn Shakespeare400 Season. WNO Artistic Director David Pountney said ‘It's a marvellous opportunity for us to bring together enormously varied works which Shakespeare’s works have inspired.’
Read MoreTwo generations overcome past wrongs and misjudgments in this exotic and magical saga. Obsessive King Leontes accuses his queen, Hermione, of having an affair and sentences her to a trial. Meanwhile their infant daughter gets spirited away to a distant shore. Sixteen years later, through fate and love, the young woman discovers her true heritage and reunites her family.
Read More“Public Works, The Public’s local and national initiative that invites diverse communities across New York to join in creating ambitious works of theater, celebrates its fourth year at the Delacorte with an enchanting new musical adaptation of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night with music and lyrics by the critically acclaimed songwriter Shaina Taub. Professional artists and community members from partner organizations in all five boroughs perform together on stage in this love story that follows the young heroine Viola, who disguises herself as a man when she washes up on the shores of Illyria. When Viola’s new boss, Duke Orsino, sends her to win over his unrequited love, the Countess Olivia, Viola’s disguise proves too effective, and the Countess falls for the young girl dressed as a boy instead. Artistic Director of Baltimore’s Center Stage, Kwame Kwei-Armah, directs this musical fever dream about love in all its many disguises, and transformative power of walking a mile in another's shoes.” –description from the Public Theater website.
Read More“Transformed into a battle of sexes set in the South.”
Read More“For the 400th anniversary year of the death of William Shakespeare, we present diverse settings of his words from a range of composers in the atmospheric setting of Canongate Kirk”-- description from Fringe programme
Read More“Breaking… Shakespeare's alive! First ever interview. If Shakespeare were living and writing today, who would he be? A genius, an outsider, or just plain Bill? The Bard is very much alive and kicking, Hamlet's just opened (to mixed reviews!) and Will’s in the hot seat. Finally, we ask the questions that have kept us all guessing: Are these plays really his? Why the tragedies? What happened with Anne? Second guest: Sir Francis Bacon, Shakespeare's arch-rival. To be or not to be…? The answer’s not on Google. Festival premiere after hit run down under! 'Fantastic!' (James Valentine, ABC Sydney).” (description from the Fringe Programme)
Read More“England. 1918. A generation of men obliterated by the futility of war. Shakespeare's battle of wits set against the devastating backdrop of a country in mourning.” –description from the Fringe Programme
Read More“Mad world! Mad kings! Mad composition! MCS Drama presents a brand new adaptation of King John, one of the least performed but most politically cutting and gravely comic of Shakespeare's history plays.” --description from Fringe programme. The performance was an abridged version of Shakespeare's play, and was also performed at Magdalen College School, Oxford.
Read More“Hamlet… and Ophelia. Cambridge University presents Shakespeare's most popular tragedy in 80 minutes. No diversion, no distraction. Witness the events unfurl before your eyes. Stripped to its roots, experience the truth of Shakespeare's play” --description from Fringe Programme
Read More“King Lear has ruled for many years. As age begins to overtake him, he decides to divide his kingdom amongst his children, living out his days without the burden of power.
A proud man, he allows vanity to cloud his judgment, believing that he can relinquish the crown, but enjoy the same authority and respect he has always known. Misjudging his children’s loyalty he soon finds himself stripped of all the trappings of state, wealth and power he had taken for granted. Alone in the wilderness he is left to confront the mistakes of a life that has brought him to this point."
Read MoreThe Two Gentlemen of Verona
Presented in English
Washington Square Park, New York City, New York, USA
August 20 – 21, 2016
Shakespeare in the Square
Directed by Dan Hasse
For More Information:
www.shakespeareinthesquare.com
“This adaptation of Macbeth is told by Hecate, the goddess of crossroads, from her point of view. An unusual yet classical version of Shakespeare, performed by a single player.
(description from the Fringe Programme)
This research was supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada
